A year ago, the city added carton containers for milk, soy milk, juice boxes, soup or broth to its curbside recycling program. Those items, made with waxy coatings or layers of paper, can’t be processed with other household paper, but new recycling methods allowed them to be added to blue bins and sent to specialized paper mills, said recycling program manager Kenneth Prue.

A year before that, the city added rigid plastics, such as jugs, tubs, trays, pots, buckets and plastic toys to its roster of recyclables. San Diego expects to recycle 1,200 tons of the materials this year.

“Residents really wanted those, and when we did that, were able to add with buckets, clamshell containers and toys,” Prue said. “It worked out really well, because we were able to add a lot more material.”

The city also operates a food waste composting program, which delivers food scraps from hotels, commercial cafeterias or the convention center to the Greenery at Miramar Landfill to be turned into nutrient-rich compost. Residents can load up to two cubic yards for free, or can purchase larger amounts at a nominal price, Prue said.

Residents who want to do their own backyard composting can get city vouchers for bins, which cut $30 to $50 from the $70 to $190 retail price of compost and worm bins.

For more information about San Diego recycling programs, call (858) 694-7000 or visit